In order to reduce the baking time required for baking bread commercially, it has been proposed to use microwave energy. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,107,284 and 3,881,403 are typical of early patents directed to ovens for the purpose, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,271,203 and 4,318,931 contain excellent discussions of the problems involved, and give solutions to some of them. However, even the methods of the latter patents require a baking time of at least twelve minutes.
It has been found that by applying to baking loaves a massive amount of microwave energy, as compared with the amount used heretofore, for a short time relative to the total baking time after they have been heated conventionally for a similarly short or slightly shorter time, and thereafter heating the loaves conventionally for a somewhat longer time than the combined times of the first two steps, the entire baking time can be reduced to eight minutes for a standard one pound loaf of white bread, the resulting bread having all of the usual desired characteristics.
One of the objects of this invention is to provide a method of baking bread commercially that produces loaves of excellent quality in a shorter time than has been possible heretofore.
Other objects will become apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of the following description and accompanying drawing.